the big picture issue 16

September/October 2011 www.thebigpicturemgazine.com

September/October 2011 3

cove

r im

age

kes

(ko

BaL)

Regulars

0 4 | Reel WorldThe Railway Children

2 0 | Four FramesStand By Me

2 6 | On LocationLos Angeles, USA

3 0 | ScreengemMy Life as a Dog

3 4 | Parting ShotFirst Person Shooter

3 8 | ListingsA Roundup of this Issue's Featured Films

contents Issue Sixteen. September/October 2011

Features

0 6 | SpotlightGrowing Pains: Cinema of Adolescence

1 4 | Art & FilmMr. Strong: The Bright and Brilliant Poster Art of Tom Whalen

2 2 | 1000 WordsAbsolute Beginner: John Hughes and the Films of American Youth In Transition

22

06

intellect | www.intellectbooks.co.ukPublished by

'But face it. You're a neo maxi zoom dweebie, what would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen? ' John Bender

The Directory of World Cinema aims to play a part in moving intelligent, scholarly criticism beyond the

academy. Each volume of the Directory provides a culturally representative insight into a national or regional

cinema through a collection of reviews, essays, resources, and film stills highlighting significant films and

players. Over time, new editions will be published for each volume, gradually building a comprehensive

guide to the cinema of each region. To contribute to the project or purchase copies please visit the website.

www.worldcinemadirectory.org

To view our catalogue or order our books and journals visit www.intellectbooks.com. Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG. | Tel: +44 (0) 117 9589910

experience global culture through the magic of film

directory of

world cinema

The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 © 2011 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com

Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: [email protected] Publisher Masoud Yazdani Chief Editor & Art Direction Gabriel Solomons Guest Editor Neil Mitchell Contributors Jez Conolly, John Berra, Daniel Steadman, Robert Beames, Neil Mitchell, Sam Price, Nicola Balkind, Scott Jordan Harris, Gabriel Solomons Please send all email enquiries to: [email protected] / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year

beyond their tender years, culminating in the famous 'daddy, my daddy' tear-jerking climactic family reunion.

The Railway Children's gentle view of childhood has an enduring place in the hearts of those who have read or seen it, with its evocative name now used in the real world for a vital and ongoing concern, that of combating child homelessness. Founded in 1995 by David Maidment, former Controller of Safety Policy for British Rail, the Railway Children charity, whose mantra is 'getting to street kids before the street gets to them', has 117 projects set up in the UK, Africa and Asia and last year helped over 25,000 street children. With the latest theatrical production of Nesbit's classic supporting the charity and with 24 partner organisations working in conjunction with Railway Children, the plight of the most vulnerable members of society will not go unnoticed. [tbp]


gofurther [weB] book tickets to see the London set Theatre production at www.www.railwaychildren.org.uk

The Railway Children's gentle view of childhood has an enduring place in the hearts of those who have read or seen it.

The Railway Children, an iconic 1970s children's novel has inspired more than just film and theatre productions. N e i l M i tc h e l l jumps aboard to follow its trail of influence.

e d i t h N e s b i t ' s p e r e N N i a l ly popular children's novel The Railway Children has in recent years been successfully transferred to the stage, a production that follows in the footsteps of several small screen versions and Lionel Jeffries' iconic 1970 film adaptation. Jeffries' unashamedly sentimental and nostalgic take on Nesbit's book sees the Waterbury family relocate from London to a small village and learn to live in relative penury after the father of the family, a foreign office employee, is wrongly incarcerated for selling state secrets to the Russians. The children of the title, Roberta, Phyllis and Peter, immortalised in Jeffries' film by Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Gary Warren, experience a series of events all connected to the nearby railway line that requires them to show wisdom, courage and understanding

f i l m b e yo n d t h e b o r d e r s o f t h e s c r e e n

reel world

Left LioneL jeffries' cLassic 1970 fiLm / aBove London's theatricaL version is staged at the former eurostar terminaL which features the stirLing singLe, a 60 tonne steam Locomotive

On The Rails

Image: www.railwaychildrenwaterloo.com

4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

Koba

l (2)

c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s

spotlight

Films about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of childhood are plentiful, but which ones stand the test

of time?. J o h N b e r r a and s a M p r i c e retreat into their past to better assess some classic examples.

Left david BradLeY and friendaBove david BradLeY, freddie fLetcher and LYnne Perrie

Now that Kes is routinely recognised as a British cinema classic, and its director is feted as one of the country’s greatest living filmmakers, it’s easy to forget the potency of the film proper. Kitchen-sink dramas tend to get a rough ride by contemporary audiences and critics, lazily and ignorantly dismissed as hunks of Northern miserablism. It’s a good thing, then, that Ken Loach’s film contains timeless themes. An unvarnished look at the shortcomings of the British class system in the late 1960s, Kes' enduring attraction lies in Loach taking something almost bizarrely specific (a bullied underachieving school boy learns to train a kestrel falcon to fend off his woes) and rendering it as a universal tale of the frustrations of childhood. Unsentimental but emotionally devastating, it’s one for the ages. [Sam Price]

kes (1969)Dir. Ken Loach

coverfeatureY

Kes' enduring attraction lies in

loach taKing something almost bizarrely

specific and rendering it as a universal tale

of the frustrations of childhood. ➜

PainsGrowing

September/October 2011 7 6 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

aBovejean-Pierre Léaud

toP LefthaYato ichihara

The film strives to show that Antoine is a victim of circumstance, whose fledgling talents deserve better than a dysfunctional family environment and an oppressive education system.

socially isolated adolescents listen to the ethereal music of titular pop idol Lily Chou Chou and discuss the meaning of the singer’s lyrics through internet message boards

Kobal (2)

The cruelties of youth are filtered through a fragmented narrative that follows two Japanese schoolboys as they attend junior high and take an ill-fated vacation to the island of Okinawa with their classmates. It is suggested that high school is an institution that must be survived as blackmail, bullying, shoplifting and rape are among the acts committed by teenagers on a daily basis, while teachers struggle to maintain the respect of their students and parents are either absent or ignored. These socially isolated adolescents listen to the ethereal music of titular pop idol Lily Chou Chou and discuss the meaning of the singer’s lyrics through internet message boards, but virtual friendship is no substitute for the real thing and the film ends in devastating tragedy.[John Berra]

ALL AbouT LiLy Chou Chou (2000)Dir. Shunji Iwai

Although the teachers of 13-year-old Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) regard him as a troublemaker, he can more accurately be described as misunderstood, or easily ma-nipulated by the mischievous children around him. Skipping school to roam the streets of Paris, squandering time in seedy ar-cades, resorting to petty theft and plagiarising Balzac result in a trip to the principal’s office and, even-tually, a transfer to an observation centre for troubled youths. Yet the film strives to show that Antoine is a victim of circumstance, whose fledgling talents deserve better than a dysfunctional family envi-ronment and an oppressive educa-tion system, although he achieves some measure of freedom in the legendary parting shot. Antoine’s eventful later life would be ex-plored by Truffaut and Léaud in four subsequent collaborations. [John Berra]

The 400 bLows (1959)Dir. François Truffaut

spotlight growing pains

8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com September/October 2011 9


spotlight growing pains

New York City circa 1994: directionless teenager Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends the summer days that follow high school graduation selling pot out of an ice-cream cart, listening to the latest hip-hop artists, and trying to win the affections of popular classmate Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), who is also the step-daughter of his psychologist Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley). Hanging out with Dr. Squires leads to some off-the-hook advice like, ‘Get your heart broken, find yourself face down in the gutter, get your balls sucked, make a real mess of a life’, and Luke must step-up when it becomes apparent that his family is in serious financial trouble. Luke’s mix-tapes form a slamming soundtrack with choice cuts by A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One and Wu Tang Clan. [John Berra]

The wACkness (2008)Dir. Jonathan Levine

aBove Left Ben kingsLeY and josh Peck

oPPosite katharine isaBeLLe and and emiLY Perkins

Luke’s mix-tapes form a slamming soundtrack with choice cuts by A Tribe Called Quest, kRs-one and wu Tang Clan.

Burying the body of a school hockey player in her back garden, moments after attempting to rip out the girl’s jugular with her teeth, misanthrope and burgeoning teenage werewolf Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle) ventures, “No-one ever thinks chicks do shit like this. A girl can only be a slut, bitch, tease or the virgin next door… We’ll just coast on how the world works”. Free of the Scream-infected irony and pre-dating both the chaste cultural inferno of the Twilight series and self-aware ‘cult’ efforts stalking similar ground – Teeth, Jennifer’s Body - Ginger Snaps is a film which, even after two superfluous sequels , still feels as dementedly rabid as it did on release. Ginger’s turn as a murdering lycanthrope remains the deftest blend of suburban satire and late-pubescent horror since Sissy Spacek unleashed her adolescent fury in Brian de Palma's 70s shocker Carrie. [Sam Price]

GinGeR snAps (2000)Dir. John Fawcett

ginger snaps is a film which, even after two

superfluous sequels, still feels

as dementedly rabid as it did

on release.

kobal (2)



c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s

spotlight

right rawiri Paratene and keisha castLe-hughes

www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

director niKi caro's film sidesteps the

plot’s obvious potential for pat melodrama, revealing itself as

uniquely transcendent by the time of the

moving conclusion

Keisha Castle-Hughes’ captivating performance as Pai is Whale Rider’s ultimate strength, a refreshingly unaffected and joyous thing shorn of the usual lugubrious and dead-eyed machinations associated with certain Hollywood child actors. Castle-Hughes plays a young Maori girl tasked with the less-than-enviable task of convincing her grousing old grandfather that the tribal chief-ship should pass to her, a role traditionally the preserve of the first-born male heir. With a mother dead from childbirth and a distant father pursuing a career on another continent, the film could have been an up-market, self-important Free Willy by way of romanticised, tourist board approved myth-making prone to descending into trite emotionalism. Instead, director Niki Caro's film sidesteps the plot’s obvious potential for pat melodrama, revealing itself as uniquely transcendent by the time of the moving conclusion. [Sam Price]

whALe RideR (2002)Dir. Niki Caro


t h e a rt o f t h e m ov i e p o s t e r

one sheet


The Shining (©2010)4-color screenprintPrivate commission

The Fly (©2010)4-color screenprintproduced for Colonial Theatre's 'first friday fright nights'

Raised by feral robot wolves in the backwoods of northeastern pennsylvania and nourished on a steady diet of comic books,

arnold schwarzenegger movies and swedish fish, to M wa l e N of Strong Stuff is fast becoming the go-to guy for intelligent, fun and

highly stylized film posters with a vintage illustrative touch.

Mr.Strong

“i [was] inspired by the fantastic painted art that always accompanied horror movies and decided to translate some of those classic movies into my style.”


Great Pumpkin (©2011)8-color screenprintProduced through Dark Hall Mansion

The Wolf Man (©2008)4-color screenprintPart of the 'Universal Series'

Steamboat Willie (©2011)4-color screenprintReleased through Slideshow Collectibles

previous page

one sheet tom walen

[weB] www.strongstuff.net [Buy Tom waLeN'S work] www.strongstuff.deviantart.comgofurther

"it wasn't until sometime in 1986 when i really felt the urge to create art of my own. From there, i consumed every comic i could pilfer off of nana's spinner rack and spent endless hours at the drawing desk that my dad gave to me."

one sheet tom walen

Paul (©2010)4-color screenprintproduced for the US premiere of the film at the SXSW festival

Monsters, Inc. [Variant] (©2011)5-color screenprintsize: 18" x 24"


e a r l y o n in his rites of passage trek out of the fictional town of Castle Rock along the Oregon railroad in search of missing boy Ray Brower’s dead body, Gordie (Wil Wheaton), together with his three pals, resorts to a short cut across a train bridge and narrowly avoids suffering the same fate as little Ray. Gordie comes to the rescue when Vern (Jerry O’Connell) stumbles on the precarious track and freezes in the path of an oncoming locomotive. Chris (River Phoenix) and Teddy (Corey Feldman) look on in horror as Gordie and Vern make a desperate scramble to the safety of the far side of the bridge. They make it, just, and end up in a dusty heap, battered, bruised but relieved to be alive. Director Rob Reiner shot the scene at Lake Britton Bridge on the McCloud River Railroad in Burney Falls State Park, California.

Read More f o u r f r a m e s online at www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

t h e a rt o f a b b r e v i at e d s to ry t e l l i n g

four frames

R u n n i n G s C A R e d Stand By Me, Dir. Rob Reiner, 1983

1 2

43

The transition from childhood to adolescence at its most exhilerating. J e z c o N o l ly steps onto the tracks for an extreme close-up.


BeginneraBove/BeLow john hughes and matthew BroderickmoLLY ringwaLd in sixteen candLes

w h e t h e r y o u ' r e a literature lover or a film fan, coming of age stories are ubiquitous. The heyday of the bildungsroman began with J.D. Salinger's enduring Catcher in the Rye, and was revived for the screen by John Hughes in the 1980s. A powerhouse of writing and directing, Hughes invented the contemporary teen movie as we know it. Be-tween 1984 and 1991, the John Hughes (Movie) Academy educated an entire generation of high schoolers on the mean-ings of love, sex, and rock and roll. Though he wrote until 2008, during his most active period he penned 11 features, of which he directed five, in-

1000 wordsm o m e n t s t h at c h a n g e d c i n e m a f o r e v e r

➜

John Hughes excelled in making films that managed to both glamorise and humanize the experience of growing up in an America at a time of prosperity. N i c o l a b a l k i N d examines his continuing appeal and relevance in an age of crippling austerity.

cluding Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and the inimitable The Breakfast Club. Towards the end of this time he also wrote two clas-sics for the K-12 years: Home Alone and Curly Sue, directing the latter. He introduced to the world such teen stars as Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, and Matthew Broderick and though many of his stars graduated, many more came of age and were subsequently im-mortalised by 80s cinema.

For a certain generation, Molly Ringwald became the face of the 80s. Battling through a forgotten birthday in Sixteen Candles and overcoming personal hurdles and bullying in Pretty in Pink, she became the poster-girl of adolescence - a crown that has since been held, but never stolen, by the likes of Alicia Silverstone, Melissa Joan Hart and Emma Stone. Her crystallising mo-ment arrived early, with a right-of-centre one-shot in which she stands staring at the spot where her mother stood moments before, wearing a look of dis-belief that’s at once naive and world-weary. “I can’t believe this,” she says, looking us di-rectly in the eye, “They fucking forgot my birthday.” Cinema’s

Absolut�


sharp-tongued sweet sixteen year-old came of age in quirky home-made styles, having her developing breasts fondled by Grandma, stealing envi-ous glances at the senior girl’s perfect physique in the shower, and cluelessly scribbling her crush’s name on an anonymous “sex test”. Unwaveringly close to the bone, Molly’s under-confident, surly take on teen worries spoke to an audience of peers.

One of those peers, Anthony Michael Hall, was defined early on as 'The Geek' in The Breakfast Club, and became the testing ground for the male side of sex concerns. Many of these concerns he solves in Weird Science by creating his own older-woman mentor in the form of the voluptuous Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), who shows him the ropes. The young geek gets short shrift in Hughes’ later years, though, as the direc-tor moved on to more charis-matic young men like Matthew Broderick’s irresistible Ferris Bueller and Career Opportuni-ties’ bare-faced liar and subur-ban escapist Jim Dodge (Frank Whaley).

Variations on Hall’s Geek were set against Judd Nelson’s Breakfast Club tough guy and Robert Downey Jr’s New Ro-mantic cool guy. Defined not only by his over-confident, dorky retorts, but also by his rich lexicon of facial expres-sions and flair for improvisa-tional comedy, in his crowning moment in Weird Science Hall's Gary leans casually against the leather facade of a whisky lounge booth, sipping bourbon and twisting a fat cigar between his fingers whilst performing, with well-lubricated fervour, a black jazz musician impression for the ages. Later, confronted by some mutant bikers with the force of wrecking-balls sent by his feminine creation, his com-ing-of-age task is as simple as standing up for himself. Hall’s mastery of the timid type and his aptitude for physical com-edy put him a cut above the fold, keeping him alive in our

hearts and minds to this day.Another graduate of the John

Hughes Academy has no trou-ble asserting himself. One who, close to flunking due to ab-sence, takes on his high school nemesis - the principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) - in the name of one fabulous day off. Matthew Broderick sealed the teen heart throb deal from the moment he touched down on screen as Ferris Bueller, treating his humble audience to a tuto-rial on the necessary deceptions that ensure a long and prosper-ous day of truancy. Speaking direct to camera in a style that would later be adopted more freely in female-led narratives, the charismatic Broderick is the guy who has it all, including the pretty girlfriend and insuf-ferably insecure best friend, whom he attempts in vain to coax from his shell. Taking on the city of Chicago (the beat-ing heart of John Hughes and

his movies), the film takes Hughes’ classic chase elements, this time unfurled throughout the film as the plot ducks and weaves around town, avoiding detection at every turn. Buel-ler is a rambunctious charmer with little to do with coming of age, but his vindictive and jealous sister plays against him, apparently seeing something phoney behind Ferris’ act that others are missing. The prin-cipal feels the same, and in a show-down they each race for Bueller’s front door: teacher to catch him out of bed; Ferris to return home before his parents find him gone; Hughes’ play-ful chase humour hits its stride as he leaps through sprinklers, over fences, and even halts mo-mentarily to chat up some sexy sunbathers.

The Walt Disney of teen cinema, Hughes had a for-mula for success in which his characters clear the hurdles

that keep them from their ideal high school sweetheart. Aspirational movie magic is alive and well in his features, an obstacle course of difficult parents, other-worldly oddities, and home town nemeses. His downtrodden protagonists are often alienated from the popu-lar guy or gal but, when time and chance permit, they allow for the most satisfying of high school Hollywood endings. In The Breakfast Club, how-ever, he blows open the social strata of high school, taking its stereotypes and literally lock-ing them in a room together to fight out their differences. Though the dramatic world of high school is immune to wholly happy endings, the im-age of the teens dancing on the library mezzanine is the rose-tinted moment of high school happiness to which every adult, teen, and John Hughes fan wishes they belonged. [tbp]

aBoveandrew mccarthY (PrettY in Pink)

aBove oPPositeemiLio estevez, anthonY michaeL-haLL and aLLY sheedY (the Breakfast cLuB)

1000 words the hughes effect

go further...

Molly Ringwald became the poster-girl of adolescence - a crown that has since been held, but never stolen, by the likes of Alicia silverstone, Melissa Joan hart and emma stone.

The walt disney of teen cinema, hughes had a formula for success in which his characters clear the hurdles that keep them from their ideal high school sweetheart.

[Book] 'you Couldn't Ignore me If you Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation' [Book] 'John Hughes and eighties Cinema' by Thomas a. Christie [weB] www.thebratpacksite.com

koBaLkoBaL


t h e p l ac e s t h at m a k e t h e m ov i e s

on location

john boorman’s distinctly European crime thriller perfectly captures the high gloss but vacu-ous feel of Los Angeles in the late 1960s as loner hitman Walker (Lee Marvin) prowls the city seeking revenge. The object of his scorn is ex-pal Mal Reese (John Vernon) who left Walker for dead and made off with his share of the loot following a double-cross of the most irksome kind. Some key Los Angeles landmarks such as Santa Monica's Huntley Hotel and mob boss Brewster’s extensive ranch-style estate on a bluff overlooking Hollywood Boulevard are used to great effect and paint a picture of a sprawling, spankingly clean and sunlit city while locations like the LA river's 6th Street Viaduct show the grimy underbelly lurking be-neath the shiny veneer.

poinT bLAnk (1967)Dir. John BoormanUS, 92 minutesStarring: Lee Marvin, John Vernon, Angie Dickinson

LeftLee marvin in Point BLank

BeLowheather graham in Boogie nightsLos

AngelesThe heart of hollywood's star-studded industry for more than a century, Los Angeles and its abundant and ever-changing locales have set the scene for a wide variety of cinematic treasures. G a b r i e l s o lo M o N s, editor of the new intellect book World Film Locations: Los Angeles takes us on a gloriously sunny whirlwind tour.

paul thomas anderson’s epic story, set in the 1970s and 1980s adult film industry of the San Fernando valley in Los Angeles, follows the turbulent lifestyle of a ragtag bunch all intent on claim-ing the fame and fortune afforded those involved in such a lucra-tive but dubious industry. Along the way, we see the city through a luminous, sunkist haze similar to that experienced by a visit to Disneyland. This fantasy world however is a thin veil under which lives are destroyed by drugs, greed, paranoia and dysfunc-tion - and the film functions as an appropriate allegory for a city at the centre of the entertainment industry that has – and continues to – oscillate between excess and success for much of its history.

booGie niGhTs (1996)Dir. Paul Thomas AndersonUS, 155 minutesStarring: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds


t h e p l ac e s t h at m a k e t h e m ov i e s

on location

[Book] To order your copy of world Film Locations: Los angeles Simply visit www.Intellectbooks.com for further information [weB] 'Like' world Film Locations on Facebookgo further...

Left chiLdren in kiLLer of sheeP

BeLow jack nichoLson in chinatown

roman polanski’s classic Neo-Noir is a veritable tour of Los Angeles landmarks. Capturing the hidden sacrifices and backroom dealings behind the emergence of LA as one of the world’s great cities, Chinatown revels equally in Los Angeles’ classic Spanish Colonial architecture, the glamour of iconic Hollywood restaurants like The Brown Derby (represented in the film by The Prince, in Koreatown), and the urban backwash of the city’s aqueducts, bridges and barren riverbeds. The more Gittes (Jack Nicholson) uncovers of the conspiracy to steal water from the city, the more we see the squalor behind LA’s veneer of sophistication and charm. [martin Zeller-Jacques]

ChinATown (1974)Dir. Roman PolanskiUSA, 130 minutesStarring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston

charles burnett’s black-and-white film Killer of Sheep was his UCLA thesis film made for $10,000 over a series of weekends in 1973. The poetic black-and-white film is a hauntingly beautiful snapshot of life in the poverty-stricken Watts neighbourhood of South Central Los Angeles. Watts became a predominantly black neighbourhood during the 1940s as thousands left the segregated South in search of better opportunities. The area, however, gained national prominence during the six-day-long Watts Riots in 1965 that many viewed as a reaction to the widespread injustices that blacks suffered. Killer of Sheep, filmed eight years after the Watts Riots, is a sensitive and humanistic portrait of the day-to-day life of people getting by in the ways that they know how.[Deirdre Devers]

kiLLeR oF sheep (1981)Dir. Charles BurnettUSA, 83 minutes Starring: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy

The poetic black-and-white film is a hauntingly beautiful snapshot of life in the poverty-stricken watts neighbourhood of south Central Los Angeles.

koBa

L (2

)


seemore Read 'Lost Classic': Jeremy (Arthur Barron 1973) by Jez Conolly on thebigpicturemagazine.com

f e w c o m i n g o f a g e d r a m a s Few coming of age dramas are as endearing or enduring as Lasse Hallström’s Swedish classic My Life as Dog. Central to it is the story of young Ingemar, who is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the small town of Småland when his mother’s health, and patience with his raucous escapades, starts to fail. Central to Ingemar’s life in Småland is the folly his uncle is building in the garden.

Or rather, the folly his uncle is building near the garden. When Aunt Ulla asks, ‘How can you be so stupid and build on land we don’t own?’, Uncle Gunnar responds with perfect logic: ‘That’s why it’s called a folly!’

e vo c at i v e o b j e c t s o n s c r e e n

screengem

My Life as a Dog (1985)

The ramshackle retreat of mischievous pre-teen Ingemar and his equally mischievous uncle is one

of cinema’s great getaways, and also one of its great visual metaphors. s c o t t J o r d a N h a r r i s hides inside.

The folly is constantly under construction and, though we seldom much constructing being done, it is finished by the film’s final scenes. In that way, it mirrors the formation of Ingemar’s adult self. For much of the film, the hut is a means of prolonging childhood: in it, Ingemar and his uncle, sit, talk and listen to awful Povel Ramel music, free of responsibility and with few thoughts of life outside the rickety walls around them. But, at the end of the film, the folly becomes a chrysalis. Ingemar flees to it to escape the tragedy that has engulfed him and, when he emerges the next morning, his childhood is over. [tbp]

GardenTheFolly


"Insightful, entertaining essays about classic films and the role their real-life... locations play in them."

Don Payne (Consulting producer, The Simpsons)

"I knew the joy of New York long before I ever visited the city. The Godfather, The Apartment and Breakfast at Tiffany's all introduced me to the cinematic scope of one of the world's most vibrant cities. This book reminds me of that joy."

Hardeep Singh Kohli

An exciting and visually focused tour of the diverse range of films shot on location in London, World Film Locations: London presents contributions spanning the Victorian era, the swinging 1960s, and the politically charged atmosphere following the 2005 underground bombings. Essays exploring key directors, themes, and historical periods are complemented by reviews of important scenes that offer particular insight into London’s relationship to cinema. From Terror on the Underground to Thames Tales to Richard Curtis’s affectionate portrayal of the city in Love Actually, this user-friendly guide explores the diversity and distinctiveness of films shot on location in London.

“Handsome and intriguing, like a ghosthunter’s companion to a world that is – and isn’t – there,” – Francine Stock

ISBN 9781841504841 Paperback / £9.95

Be they period films, cult classics, or elaborate directorial love letters, New York City has played – and continues to play – a central role in the imaginations of film-makers and movie-goers worldwide. The stomping ground of King Kong, it is also the place where young Jakie Rabinowitz of The Jazz Singer realizes his Broadway dream. Later, it is the backdrop against which taxi driver Travis Bickle exacts a grisly revenge. The inaugural volume in an exciting new series from Intellect, World Film Locations: New York pairs incisive profiles of quintessential New York film-makers – among them Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, and Spike Lee – with essays on key features of the city’s landscape that have appeared on the big screen.

“An elegant tribute to the films and locations that have given New York its private real estate in our minds. The contributors are so immediately readable and movie-savvy.” – Roger Ebert

ISBN 9781841504827 Paperback / £9.95

newyorkedited by scott jordan harris

edited by neil mitchell

london

also availabletokyolos angeles paris dublin

£9.95paperbacKY

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i m i tat i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l at t e ry

parting shot

the viewpoint of two children, perched behind the butt of their weapons, as they ruthlessly pursue an unarmed man through the woods. Director Gonzalo López-Gallego explicitly uses these shots to crassly parallel video game culture with youth violence (the film’s title is a play on a common type of multiplayer FPS gameplay). It is no coincidence that FPS shots appear sporadically in the action-heavy, second half of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9. Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson were originally planning to adapt Microsoft’s game series Halo. Whilst similar first person shots were used before FPS games emerged (notably in one eye-catching moment of Clint Eastwood’s 1973 High Plains Drifter), they are now irrevocably wedded to the iconography of gaming and almost always hold gaming as a deliberate point of reference. [tbp]

As the popularity of video games rises, so does the use of the First Person Shooter

(FPS) signature image as a narrative device onscreen. r o b b e a M e s investigates.

[ISSue 14] read ‘Parting Shot: one In The eye: The Telescopic Gun Sight' by Scott Jordan Harrisgo further...

v i d e o g a m e s have long drawn from Hollywood, often telling derivative stories using liberally re-purposed elements from many films. Yet the influence of games upon movies has become almost equally pervasive over the last decade, one example being the recurring use of visual tropes associated with the First Person Shooter genre. The FPS’ signature image, of the “player” stalking “enemies” from a first person perspective with a gun barrel fixed to the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, has been employed by several filmmakers of late – the most obvious instance being in the 2005 adaptation of pioneering shooter Doom. The big screen version features a five minute, real-time sequence shown from the perspective of Karl Urban’s protagonist, with the audience watching from behind his rifle.

Similarly, Spanish thriller King of the Mountain/ El rey de la montaña uses FPS shots in its final moments. The audience takes

it is no coincidence that Fps shots appear sporadically in the action-heavy, second half of neill blomkamp’s district 9. blomkamp and producer peter Jackson were originally planning to adapt Microsoft’s game series halo.

GameO�

cLockwise from BeLow king of the mountain / doom / district 9


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Performing Arts Visual Arts Film Studies Cultural & Media Studies intellect books & journals

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Intellect Books

Touring the Screen Tourism and New Zealand Film Geographies

By Alfio Leotta

ISBN 9781841504759 | Paperback | UK £24.95 | US $40

Following the success of prominent feature films shot on location,

including Peter Jackson’s wildly popular The Lord of the Rings,

New Zealand boasts an impressive film tourism industry. This

book examines the relationship between New Zealand’s cinematic

representation – as both a vast expanse of natural beauty and

a magical world of fantasy on screen – and its tourism imagery,

including the ways in which savvy local tourist boards have in recent

decades used the country’s film representations to sell New Zealand

as a premiere travel destination. Focusing on the films that have had a

strong impact on marketing strategies by local tourist boards, Touring

the Screen will be of interest to all those working and studying in the

fields of cinema, postcolonial history, and tourism studies.

Alfio Leotta teaches film studies at the University of Auckland,

New Zealand.

Intellect is an independent academic publisher of books and journals, to view our catalogue or order our titles visit www.intellectbooks.com

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The railway Children (1970) Dir. werner Herzog

g see page 4/5

kes (1969) Dir. ken Loach

g see page 6/7

all about Lily Chou Chou (2000) Dir. Shung Iwai

g see page 8

The 400 Blows (1959) Dir. François Truffaut

g see page 9

The wackness (2008) Dir. Jonathan Levine

g see page 10

Ginger Snaps (2000)Dir. John Fawcett

g see page 11

whale rider (2002) Dir. Niki Caro

g see page 12/13

Stand By me (1983) Dir. rob reiner

g see page 28/29

Ferris Bueller's Day off (1986) Dir. John Hughes

g see page 30/31

Pretty In Pink (1986) Dir. John Hughes

g see page 32

Breakfast Club (1985)Dir. John Hughes

g see page 33

Point Blank (1967) Dir. John Boorman

g see page 34

Boogie Nights (1997)Dir. Paul Thomas anderson

g see page 35

killer of Sheep (1981) Dir. Charles Burnett

g see page 36

Chinatown (1974) Dir. roman Polanski

g see page 37

my Life as a Dog (1985) Dir. Lasse Hallström

g see page 38/39

el rey de la montaña (2007) Dir. Gonzalo López-Gallego

g see page 42/43

Doom (2005) Dir. andrzej Bartkowiak

g see page 43

District 9 (2009) Dir. Neill Blomkamp

g see page 42

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